Ethereum Price Remains Flat Despite Good News — Reasons Explained
Crypto News- Ether has been under pressure since June 7, when it lost its $3,800 support level. Despite a series of positive developments, its price remained below $3,600 on June 19, showing no weekly change.
Lack of Institutional Demand and Regulatory Uncertainty
Analysts attribute Ether’s bearish momentum to a lack of institutional demand for cryptocurrencies and regulatory uncertainty within the Ethereum ecosystem. Despite regulatory clearance for ETH, risks persist. Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, expressed surprise at Ether’s lack of positive momentum following Consensys’ victory over the SEC. She also questions whether other regulatory issues related to staking could be deterring investor interest.
Consensys’ Victory Over the SEC
On June 18, Ethereum ecosystem developer Consensys announced that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had concluded its investigation into whether Ethereum could be considered a security and the company’s role in ETH sales. Consensys had initiated legal action against the SEC in April after receiving a Wells notice, warning that its MetaMask wallet might have breached securities laws.
Broader Market Concerns and Macroeconomic Factors
Ether’s downturn coincided with Bitcoin’s rejection near $72,000 on June 7. Investors grew concerned about the United States’ fiscal health, exacerbated by high interest rates and deteriorating economic indicators such as rising wages and an increasing jobless rate. In May, U.S. average hourly earnings rose by 0.4% month-on-month, while the unemployment rate increased to 4.0% from 3.9% in April.
Despite potential benefits to cryptocurrencies from worsening macroeconomic conditions in the medium to long term, history has shown that investors tend to withdraw from risk assets when the risk of a recession becomes imminent. The U.S. two-year Treasury yield fell from 4.94% on May 30 to 4.71%, indicating aggressive purchasing of these fixed-income instruments.
Dan McArdle, the co-founder of Case4Bitcoin, noted that as long as the macroeconomic environment remains stable, cryptocurrency appears reasonably priced, and its long-term bullish trend should continue. However, McArdle warns that a “macro shock” or a sharp correction in the S&P 500 would negatively impact cryptocurrencies in the short to medium term. Therefore, the current lack of interest in Ether could reflect investors’ heightened concerns about a potential recession.
Positive Regulatory News and Persistent Challenges
In addition to the recent Consensys development, regulatory news for Ether has been overwhelmingly positive. SEC Chair Gary Gensler confirmed that the launch of U.S. spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) would occur within three months. However, Ethereum faces its own challenges, including persistently high network processing fees, which have exceeded $4 over the past week.
Recession Risks and Shifting DApp Volumes
Despite the growth of layer-2 scaling solutions such as Optimism, Base, Arbitrum, and zkSync, some decentralized application (DApp) volume has shifted to competitors like Solana, BNB Chain, and THORChain. According to DappRadar, Ethereum remains the leader in DApp volumes over the last 30 days, but it faces stiff competition. Competitors such as Solana, Aptos, Celo, and Fantom have significantly outpaced its growth. Additionally, the number of active addresses interacting with DApps on the Ethereum network has dropped by 40% in 30 days, while Solana and Aptos saw increases of 58% and 115%, respectively.
Concerns Over ETF Inflows and Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust Fund
Ether’s failure to surpass $3,600 despite the imminent launch of spot ETFs and the SEC’s regulatory clarification that ETH is not a security can be attributed to worsening macroeconomic conditions and potential uncertainties regarding additional regulatory charges for token issuers, wallet providers, and exchanges—a risk highlighted by Acheson.
Lastly, the recent four days of consecutive net outflows from the spot Bitcoin ETFs raise concerns about whether Ethereum instruments will attract significant inflows as their launch approaches. Investors are worried that Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust Fund might suffer outflows when it is converted to an ETF, similar to the issues that have affected the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust due to its high management fee.
FAQ: Understanding Ethereum’s Recent Price Trends
Why has the price of Ether been under pressure since June 7?
The price of Ether has been under pressure since June 7 when it lost its $3,800 support level. This decline coincided with broader market concerns, including Bitcoin’s rejection near $72,000 and worries about the United States’ fiscal health, high interest rates, and deteriorating economic indicators.
Despite positive developments, why has Ether’s price remained below $3,600?
Despite several positive developments, Ether’s price has stayed below $3,600 due to a combination of factors, including lack of institutional demand, regulatory uncertainty, and macroeconomic concerns. These factors have outweighed the positive news, such as regulatory clearance and the announcement of future ETFs.
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